Midnight Swim
by Donna8
Summary: Judson thinks about his partner Mac and what could be...


Midnight Swim  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure's Inc. or anything related to it.

Gabe stretched slowly as he twirled around in the chair. He rubbed  
  
his eyes with the heels of his hands.  
  
"Oh Hades, how I hate the grave yard shift." Gabe sighed as his dark  
  
head fell back. "Why did Judson pick me? Mac loves this shift. She  
  
can be all secretive and such, while I am just plain tired."  
  
Gabe grousing was interrupted by a huge yawn. His eyes drooped even  
  
more as he continued to mumble on about the unfairness of the situation.  
  
Mackenzie Previn, on the other hand, snuggled contentedly in her  
  
bed. Her arms wrapped around her pillow like an oversized teddy  
  
bear. It was probably a good thing no one could see her like this.  
  
This did not fit the hard-as-nails image Judson Cross and Gabe  
  
Patterson had of her.  
  
Mac burrowed her head deeper into her pillow, her black hair sliding  
  
like silk across her bare back. "Oh honey, you shouldn't have," Mac  
  
murmured with a dreamy smile on her face. "Oooo, don't stop that  
  
feels soooooo good." Mac's midnight ramblings faded into soft coos of delight and a smile  
  
of pure contentedness.  
  
Judson Cross was not asleep. Not even a bit sleepy. If the truth be  
  
known, Judson was restless and hot. No not that hot, but room  
  
temperature hot. His room felt like an oven. He had already discarded his white tank and

shucked his pajama bottoms for a pair of knit boxers. Fingers interlaced behind his  
  
head pulling already taunt abdomen even more into relief. There were  
  
a few old white lines from past scars, but nothing to really detract  
  
from the sheer beauty of the man. Finally, Judson could take it no more.

He swung his legs over the bed and padded softly to the door.  
  
'I am going up on deck. It has got to be cooler there than it is in  
  
here.' He thought to himself while quietly walking past Mac's door.  
  
He worked his way to the top deck. He looked in the window to see  
  
Gabe snoring softly into his cradled arms. Judson laughed to himself. 'I know

someone who will be getting an earful about this tomorrow.'  
  
He made his way to the side of the boat. The moonlight reflected on  
  
the rippling shallow waves. The water looked clear, cool, inviting.  
  
A lover's embrace just waiting to ease the tensions of the day.  
  
"What happened to me?" Judson sighed to the wafting breeze. "I used  
  
to be so free and open. Now, I am cautious, secretive, timid even."  
  
A nearby fish jumped as if in response. "I don't mean on the job,  
  
but with myself. I still love the adventure and danger, but I feel  
  
that something is missing."  
  
Judson walked slowly back to the diving platform and dangled his legs  
  
over the side. "Why is it that I cannot let Mac see a different me. I mean Gabe and  
  
Mac. Oh hell, who am I kidding. What is it about Mac that troubles  
  
me? I have never been good with the serious relationship stuff--not  
  
just romance, but even the everyday friendship."  
  
The stars winked on and off in the inky blackness as Judson laid his  
  
heart bare. "What do I feel for Mac? Is it friendship? I have  
  
never had anyone I trust more than her. She would do anything for me  
  
and I her. Sometimes I wonder if it is love? Yeah right, the  
  
elusive Mackenzie Previn paired with a wandering pirate."  
  
Judson laughed softly at the image of himself with a patch and Mac in  
  
a flowing dress. She would look beautiful, but not Mac.  
  
A sly look came over Judson's face as he slowly peered left and  
  
right. "Forget about worrying over things that won't change, instead  
  
I will go swimming."

Now Judson had made it a cardinal rule that no one goes swimming in  
  
the ocean alone and especially at night, but he was the captain so....  
  
He stood up and stared at the quivering blackness below. There was  
  
enough moonlight to highlight the waves and the area beyond the ship.  
  
Judson paused for a moment, then suddenly he reached and skimmed the  
  
knit boxers off his body and threw them on the floor.  
  
In one perfect motion, he dove into the inky blackness. Immediately  
  
his senses were bombarded. The silence entombed him. The coolness  
  
of the water caressed his bare body. With his lungs burning, Judson  
  
made for the surface.  
  
He leapt from the water like a dolphin, throwing his head back in  
  
abandonment. Mac and Gabe would not have recognized their team-  
  
mate. Smooth, strong, tan arms sliced through the water. The muscled legs  
  
kicked with confident strokes. The moonlight bathed his bare body  
  
creating a moving marble statue.  
  
Judson dove, played, and careened through the water with the  
  
enjoyment of a child at Christmas. 'Oh, how he loved the water.  
  
Here he felt like a god.'  
  
Anyone looking at him would have to agree. Judson did not notice his  
  
own perfections. The wide muscled shoulders that could carry a heavy  
  
load or hold a sleepy head. He never paid attention to the sheer  
  
masculine beauty of his face or the way his golden hair, golden body  
  
and blue eyes were the stuff of dreams.  
  
Cavorting in the water naked, Judson resembled a fabled merman,  
  
waiting to entice some young woman away from her mortal family and  
  
into his passionate embrace. Tiring of his energetic play, Judson lay on his back 

and floated in the moonlight. Normally, he would not be so bold as to display  
  
himself, but he was assured that Gabe and Mac were fast asleep.  
  
Finally, Judson made his way back to the boat. He reached the  
  
platform and readied his body for the leap back to reality.

"I thought you always said that swimming alone at night in the ocean  
  
was dangerous."  
  
Judson froze.  
  
"Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe you are not the venerable Judson  
  
Cross, but a creature of myth that has lost your way."  
  
Judson sighed and looked up at Mac. "How long have you been there?"  
  
Mac smiled slowly, a light burning behind her eyes. "Long enough to  
  
know that you sunbath in a swim suit."  
  
Judson groaned in disbelief and dropped his head back to the  
  
platform. He felt more than saw Mac sit down beside his head and drop  
  
her legs in the water.  
  
It disturbed him somewhat to have Mac there beside him. In the dark,  
  
him naked, and her bare feet just a few inches from him.  
  
"Judson," Mac began softly. "What is wrong? I mean not with the  
  
skinny dipping, which of course is perfectly all right. I mean, I  
  
have skinny dipped myself once or twice, but never in the ocean at  
  
night. I wonder what it is like...?"  
  
Mac stopped abruptly as Judson's hand closed over one of her ankles  
  
dangling beneath the water.  
  
"Mac, you are babbling." Judson said as his hands stroked the smooth  
  
and silky flesh of her calf. "Nothing is wrong. My room was an oven,  
  
so I came out here to cool off. The water looked so inviting, that I  
  
just wanted to......get away." 

Mac tried to concentrate on Judson's words, but the feel of his  
  
calloused fingers molding her flesh distracted everything else.  
  
Judson mistook her silence. He floated closer to her and laid both  
  
hands on her knees. Floating between her parted legs, Judson raised  
  
his hand and cupped her face. "Mac, you are the most important  
  
person to me. I trust you just like you trust me. Don't worry.  
  
Everything will turn out all right."

Mac's mind was in a state of confusion. This was Judson, her best  
  
friend, her confidant, her.....There her mind quit. She was not  
  
ready to finish that thought.   
  
For all her toughness, Mackenzie Previn was vulnerable. Her one  
  
weakness was the belief that she was not destined for love. Her life  
  
so far had not been that great in that department. She needed Judson  
  
too much to love him.  
  
With a silent sigh, Mac shook her head and adopted a smart ass  
  
smile. "Oooo, you are so going to owe me. Now, what do I get for  
  
NOT telling Gabe about your midnight excursion? Hmmm....I know no  
  
grave yard shift for the next three days." Mac waited expectantly for Judson's reply.  
  
Inside Judson felt his heart drop. He had all but declared his love,  
  
and she only thought of him as a friend. Closing his eyes for moment  
  
to file away the pain at losing the possibility of Mac's love, Judson  
  
bowed his head.  
  
He then gave a theatrical sigh and shrugged his shoulders. "If, and  
  
I repeat, if Gabe never hears of this, I will consider your request.  
  
Now would you, please hand me my boxers?"  
  
Mac fingered Judson's boxers which she had been running through her  
  
hands. She could swear she still felt the warmth from his  
  
body. "Well, I guess so. Here catch." With that, Mac threw  
  
Judson's boxers up in the air.  
  
Judson had to make split second decision. Leap out of water and  
  
catch the boxers, thus giving Mac a potential eye full, or wandering  
  
back to his room in wet underwear.  
  
'What the hell!' he thought. He leapt out of the water and caught  
  
the boxers in his hands. When he turned back to the boat, Mac was no  
  
where to be found.  
  
Judson climbed back aboard the boat and slipped his boxers over his  
  
damp body. It would be long time before he would ever forget this  
  
night.  
  
Gabe sighed as he slowly opened one eye. He glanced at his watch.  
  
Only 20 minutes had passed. He watched Mac leave the diving platform  
  
with her face downcast and troubled. A few minutes later, Judson  
  
also wandered back towards his room.  
  
Gabe mirrored his friends' troubled look. He then reached for the  
  
controls and moved the temperature setting for Judson's room back to  
  
its normal position.  
  
THE END 


End file.
